AmTrust Financial Preferreds Getting Creamed

The preferred shares of AmTrust Financial (NYSE:AFSI), a property and casualty insurer, have been getting absolutely hammered today–this after they had already fallen in the last couple of weeks by 10-15%.

Here is a chart for for the AFSI-B issue which is a 7.25% non cumulative preferred.

While we don’t have the time to do a full article on this situation we would caution investors to be careful with these shares. AmTrust is controlled by the Karfunkel family and these people have somewhat of a reputation for operating on the edge of the rules and regulations. While there is most likely an opportunity for a capital gain here only folks that have lots of spare cash and like Las Vegas should venture into this situation.